OK, it's not much of a chapter, more a filler that needed to be written, and pitifully almost wholly Kaname-less. But I promise to remedy it at the very nearest future, after all he Yagari has to bring the poor pureblood to the hut after all?.

Thank you to everybody who reviewed, I promise, I sincerely promise to answer every single review as soon as I'm somewhere for more than two days in a row. Right now keeping the chapters coming takes all that I have.

That said – I still do not own VK, all that I own is this demented plotline…


It wasn't long before first signs of wear manifested themselves in how their little sad caravan proceeded. They weren't even back to the main up-valley/down-valley track, when the teacher's gait got less steady and quick and she didn't need to run half the time anymore to keep in stride with him. Nevertheless, Yori chose to follow him, staying a little back, since – for one – she didn't know where he was taking them, and besides it was just plain painful to watch the single-minded determination drawn on his continuously more haggard face.

In a moment of clarity she thought…

like she had something better than stumble along and think to herself, like there was anything she could do to actually help…

…so, she thought that it was in fact extremely lucky for her, or indeed – for Kaname, that she had stumbled upon Yagari-sensei when she had. For even had she found Cross and brought him to the lakeside in time, the Chairman simply lacked both in built and brute strength to do what the younger teacher was doing now.

Even so – she wondered if Yagari's strength and determination could hold till they reach that warmer place that they sought. More and more he would falter, barely keeping his balance, more and more he would stop, resting the forehead on a nearby tree, shoulders heaving wildly in search for air, lips moving silently as he hadn't any more breath for an endless litany of come-on-kid-s and hang-on-kid-s directed on the frighteningly still form held in his arms.

She was loosing count of times he would stop, and start going, cover some twenty meters and stop again, and it was pretty clear that such a struggle can't last indefinitely – sooner or later, and it seemed like it would be sooner – the teacher would break.

"Put him down, sensei," she said softly, her hand lightly touching the overstretched muscles through the sweet-drenched once lilac shirt. "Put him down and rest, or next you will drop him, or fall down yourself with him in your arms…"

"Wrong…" rasped like a torn fabric in a voice almost unrecognizable as Yagari's. "If I put him back now – I won't be able to hoist him back up… Don't worry girl… It's not far from here… In fact…"

He paused momentarily, fighting a wrecking cough, as if the shear act of talking took too much out of his already waning strength…

"You run along first…" he continued as the fit subsided, "up-slope from here, along the path… there is a hut, an outhouse… the key's under the door-mat… turn the heater on… should be warm… closed tight when leaving… turn it on still…need… warmth…"

And she felt her heart sinking a bit, with the dread all her own, as she ran to the place that she left but this morning, to the place which seemed like she was bound to there – yo-yo-Yori, hither and thither and back again…

***

"Talk to me", Aidou barked at her without turning, ad she felt a sting of angry tears right behind her eyelids...

Just what right did he have to be angry at her?

It is she, who should be angry - whisked away from her friend, who - she knew! - still needed her reassurance, still needed her! - and dragged now so unceremoniously that her hand hurt to whatever safe place!

Yes, she had all the rights to feel angry, and she'd die before she let him see her tears...

"What about?" she asked instead, defiantly, proud that her voice neither cracked, nor shook.

"Whatever", came without so much as turned head.

"Would you mind slowing down?"- she was talking, wasn't she?

"Wrong topic!"

Oh well!

"If it's supposedly so unsafe here, shouldn't you be paying more attention to our surroundings, not make me talk?"

She was goading him... a little... granted, and yet was completely unprepared to how quickly he moved, turning around, both hands pinning her by the shoulders, two furious blue orbs peering intently down in her own light-brown ones with a glare so cold - it looked like it could freeze everything half a mile around them... which, now remembering what he'd done with that bad vampire - she supposed it could.

"Look, human girl, I'll explain you this one time, and I hope you're clever enough to get it."

One long finger tapped non-too-gently on her forehead to stress the point.

"Humans have about 8 levels of attention... Geesh, I hope she's able to at least grasp a part of it..." he mumbled the last words in a brief "old Aidou" aside - not even bothering that she can hear it too. "Now, as a vampire, and a genius..."

Gosh, the aplomb of the guy!

"...I have ten, and three of them are now scanning the vicinity, around two try to concentrate on just hw utterly Kaname-sama will kill me if I do not carry out yet another of his assignments and something happens to you, and the remaining five are busily looking for a way in which I can safely drop you right here, and return to where my friends, everybody I care about, are preparing to fight at who knows what odds... So," he finished already starting to turn to lead her further up-path, "do yourself a favor - keep those levels occupied - Talk. To. Me."

"What if I want you to drop me?"

This time he looked really scary, when he turned with a snarl - so entirely furious that even his fangs lengthened and there were reddish shadows dancing in his dangerously arrowed eyes.

"Wr-r-rong topic again, human girl!" - his face came really close, and her own temper flared mostly to cover for fear.

"Name is Sayori Wakaba, vampire!"

Strangely enough - it worked, the young vampire stumbling suddenly aback, eyes closed, hands tightly fisted, his whole slight frame trembling as he fought for composure.

"I... know it," the blue eyes opened again - all traces of red gone, and it was like Yori suddenly saw yet another Hanabusa Aidou - not the scary vampire of magic-like powers, not a mischievous playboy-genius, but a troubled teen not much older than herself, desperately trying to somehow handle all conflicting loyalties and do the right thing.

He caught himself though, almost immediately turning around, catching her hand again, dragging her forward, gesticulating lightheartedly with the other hand in his former arrogant manner.

"So... off we continue, right?"

And she asked herself if it was this day, perhaps, that made everybody behave in such out of character manner? Or was she just "seeing things"? Or was it indeed that she was paying attention finally to start seeing things that were there all along?

"Ai... Aidou-sempai..." she started meekly.

She felt his hand jerk her roughly forward - compensating for moment of openness before... Then the young vampire stopped abruptly, so that she almost stumbled into his back.

"Please talk to me, Sayori-san," he said very quietly, "There is ash on the airs and it makes me... it rakes on my nerves..."

He walked forward almost immediately with her still in tow, but she noticed that he didn't grip her forearm quite so forcibly anymore, and his stride shortened somewhat to accommodate her steps.

"Aidou-sempai..." she asked somewhat timidly. "Please, don't be angry at me, I'm just... a bit bewildered by everything, I guess... This whole safe place thing - do you think it's really necessary?.. I mean, everything seemed so peaceful... eh, before that... vampire jumped out of nowhere... Maybe he was just a... stray, you know?.. uh... rogue?.. well, like thieves or robbers among humans? And you've already dealt with him? Eh... maybe everything is already alright?"

She expected him to maybe get angry again, or not dim her reasoning worth an answer... instead he... laughed!.. Well, not so much laughed - but chuckled loudly with extreme amusement.

"Wow, you're really something, Sayori-san... All you know about vampires is this one today's experience, all vampires you've met knowing them for what they are can be counted on the fingers of one your cute hand... and you already come up with theories that would explain it all!.."

"Then maybe you could explain me about vampires, Aidou-sempai?"

If he wanted her talk about something why not make the talk useful, she had to learn more to better understand Yuuki, now that she was one... to be of help...

"Me?!. Explain you about vampires?!"

Wow if it wasn't indignant whelp!

"Yes," she pressed on calmly. "After all - you are one, and you lived with them your whole life, and... you are a genius - shouldn't be any problem for you - to give me a lecture on them".

"More like a crash course..."

But she could tell he was already warming to the idea...

And so he started talking - first in bits and pieces, jumping from topic to topic, but more and more slipping into a sort of scientific lecturing mode, and she had to admit he had a real talent to present it all concisely and logically - she was certainly enjoying his lecture more than she did with some of the teachers at school.

He had also grown considerably calmer himself - as she knew he would, since talking was even better than listening I taking up what he referred to as "attention levels" but what she had usually seen called "attention slots".

In fact he became so very engrossed in his "crash course" that she had to tug on his hand to make him notice they had been actually standing before a small outhouse for a whole of five minutes already.

"Is this the place, Aidou-sempai?"

It took him a visible effort to snap to his current surroundings (so much for scanning the premises, eh?)

"Yes, that is," Hanabusa seemed momentarily nonplused, "shit, it looks like someone has settled in here... Last time I saw it the place was totally abandoned!"

He held her at an arm's length behind himself, as he did something she didn't quite detect but for a wave of cold air that seemed to rebound in their direction, then bent to retrieve a key from under the door-mat.

"Here, the iron cools easier than almost anything save water".

He cautioned her to stay behind as well as he entered the house, before motioning her tojoin him.

"It is alright, the owner is not likely to return soon. And even if he does - he won't harm you".

And she obediently entered after him into warmth that awaited inside...

***

Now she stood once again before the same hut, the door hanging limply aside on its broken hinges - the result of Luca's unceremonious entrance, the insides of the house chilled to almost outside temperature - nothing like the warmth that met her before.

And its all because of me...

But there was no time for such defeatist thinking right now.